Join us to write with the seasons on Substack!

Write & Shine
Sign up for our newsletter

Summer Season



Join us for a series of inspiring writing events this summer

During June and July, we’ll host morning writing workshops and events inspired by summertime’s warmth and light.

We’ll take joy in colour this season! Expect workshops on summer sunrises, wildflowers and the language of colour. We’ll explore how colour can help us craft striking images and set a tone, as well as create emotional landscapes in our writing. All events take place virtually on Zoom, UK time.

Sunrise

Tuesday 21 June (7.15-9am)

Our season begins on the summer solstice. Rise early with the sunrise to welcome the day, then join us online for a morning writing workshop on light, colour and creativity. We’ll use the warm red, yellow and orange colours of the sunrise to inspire.
Book here

Wildflowers

Thursday 23 June (7.15-9am)

Bluebells, buttercups and daisies, dog roses, foxgloves and poppies! Every hedgerow, city park and crack in the pavement blooms with flowers in June. This workshop takes inspiration from colourful wildflowers, their brightness and resilience, how they grow in places no one expects them to flourish.
Book here

Paint

Tuesday 28 June (7.15-9am)

A workshop on how colour can provide energy, vividness and rhythm to our ideas. We’ll look at painter Lee Krasner, as well as artists Helen Frankenthaler, Althea McNish and Bridget Riley, who all used bold colour palettes in their work to excite and fracture, subvert and illuminate.
Book here

Shades of Green

Thursday 30 June (7.15-9am)

Green is associated with growth and nature. It suggests peaceful meadows, lush forests and trees bursting with leaves. This workshop will use the colour green as writing inspiration, considering how we can write about nature and place in new, unexpected ways.
Book here

Everyday Objects

Tuesday 12 July (7.15-9am)

A morning workshop on the beautiful colours of everyday objects. We’ll write about objects ablaze with colour and those with calm, peaceful colours too. Inspiration will come in the form of colourful things we love, and the fascinating designs of stamps, stationery and book covers.
Book here

On Blue

Thursday 14 July (7.15-9am)

Pantone’s ‘Colour of the Year’ is called Very Peri: a spritely red-violet infused blue hue. We’ll add that blue to other blues: summer sky-blue, ocean-blue, the blue of butterflies, and blueberries. Join us to fill the morning with blue, inspired by Maggie Nelson and Sarah Perry’s writing on this colour.
Book here

Costume

Tuesday 19 July (7.15-9am)

Wear your most colourful clothes for a workshop on costumes, fabric and textiles. Expect to read about dressing up in finery, clowns and performers, and to write new poems, stories and essays about how people present or obscure their real selves through their clothes.
Book here

Peacock

Thursday 21 July (7.15-9am)

A vibrant writing workshop inspired by the most colourful, resplendent of birds: the peacock. While we admire their ornamental blue and green tail feathers, we’ll also think about their symbolism: of immortality, of knowledge and of creativity.
Book here

Writing Retreat

Wednesday 27 July (7.15-9.30am)

Bring your work in progress or some ideas to explore and write together in the summer morning light – in the company of a friendly group of writers. We’ll offer a short intention setting exercise, because tomorrow’s new moon is a good time to plan and focus on new creative projects.
Book here

Language of Colour

Thursday 28 July (7.15-9am)

To close our season, we’ll host a special workshop on colour and language. We’ll look to writers Derek Jarman, Leanne Shapton, Ocean Vuong and Virginia Woolf who considered colour not just as decoration but as a tool to allow their imaginations to soar and bring their ideas to life.
Book here